Firstly, the chickpeas and mung beans need to be soaked overnight, and soaking the lentils will reduce their cooking time too, so I soaked mine at the same time. As I can quite work out how to cook all the ingredients together, what with the differences in cooking time, I cooked mine separately, using three pans, then mixed it all together in a bowl. Check the back of the packets for cooking time, but everything is really just cooking until it’s soft, so the time isn’t too important. I started by cooking the chickpeas (these took an hour and a half, so they were the first to start and the last to finish), the lentils, and the mung beans. The lentils were the first to finish, so I drained them, rinsed them in cold water, and used the pan again to cook the quinoa. Put the quinoa in with 100ml of water, boil for ten minutes and simmer for fifteen minutes. The bulgar wheat just needs to sit in a bowl of water until tender – about 3/4 of a pint for 75g. Once the mung beans were done, I drained and rinsed them then added them to my bowl, and used the pan for the buckwheat – like the quinoa, rinse and put into 80ml of water, boil for ten minutes, then simmer until the water is mostly absorbed. The barley (I used pearl barley) again needs to go into cold water, boil for ten minutes, then simmer until soft. The sweetcorn, I used frozen and cooked in the microwave. As everything finishes cooking, drain, rinse and add to the mixing bowl. Mix everything up together, cover and put in the fridge overnight. I find leaving it in the fridge overnight allows it to soak up any water and become less mushy and our birds definitely prefered it more that way, than they did when I offered them some before putting it in the fridge. Now add in the herbs and spices.